If the season premiere of Game of Thrones was the only HBO event that dominated your weekend, may we be so bold as to say that you missed out.
As you’ve likely heard by now, pop queen Beyoncé debuted her new album, Lemonade, over the weekend along with the first of its kind—a ‘visual album’ to accompany the new record.
Less a series of 12 videos to accompany the 12 tracks of the album and more a continuous narrative, the visual Lemonade presents the songs as related stories, stringing them all together with poetry, spoken word, sound, and stunning visuals and telling one cohesive story of pain, heartache, loss, anger, and restoration, both personal and in a larger more societal sense. It’s 57 minutes of gifted, heart-laid-bare storytelling from the artist and a bold move to employ a new, innovative format to do so, positioning her solidly as a cultural icon.
Over the weekend, HBO debuted the limited release of the visual album, pairing it with a free preview weekend—both of which have now ended—skillfully stepping out of the cultural white noise and grabbing our oh-so scattered attention in this attention deficit disorder digital age.
In the wake of the loss of Prince, Beyoncé + Lemonade give us hope for the future of pop culture if its in such skilled, thoughtful hands as these.
You can view a trailer for Lemonade below and buy the album—visual and aural—via iTunes + Tidal. And check out Kiana Fitzgerald’s review of Lemonade for NPR, if you get a chance.
As we said yesterday on IG, boo to the fur used in the primary imagery/film; yay to all else.
